LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is braced for a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping — and there’ll be more than a few elephants in the room. Though Britain has improved its relationship with China following the more combative approach of previous Conservative administrations, a litany of concerns over national security and human rights continues to dog Labour’s attempted refresh. Starmer, who will meet the Chinese president in Beijing Thursday morning, told reporters engaging with China means he can discuss “issues where we disagree.”   “You know that in the past, on all the trips I’ve done, I’ve always raised issues that need to be raised,” he said during a huddle with journalists on the British Airways flight to China on Tuesday evening. In a sign of how hard it can be to engage on more tricky subjects, Chinese officials bundled the British press out of the room when Starmer tried to bring up undesirable topics the last time the pair met. From hacking and spying to China’s foreign policy aims, POLITICO has a handy guide to all the ways Starmer could rile up the Chinese president. 1) STATE-SPONSORED HACKING China is one of the biggest offenders in cyberspace and is regarded by the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) — part of Britain’s GCHQ intelligence agency — as a “highly sophisticated threat actor.” The Electoral Commission said it has taken three years to recover from a Chinese hack of its systems. The Chinese state, and private companies linked directly or obliquely to its cyber and espionage agencies, have been directly accused by the British government, its intelligence agencies and allies. As recently as last month, the U.K. government sanctioned two Chinese companies — both named by the U.S. as linked to Chinese intelligence — for hacking Britain and its allies. 2) ACTIONS AGAINST BRITISH PARLIAMENTARIANS Politicians in Britain who have spoken out against Chinese human rights abuses and hostile activity have been censured by Beijing in recent years. This includes the sanctioning of 5 British MPs in 2021, including the former security minister Tom Tugendhat, who has been banned from entering the country. Last year, Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse was refused entry to Hong Kong while attempting to visit her grandson, and was turned back by officials. The government said that the case was raised with Chinese authorities during a visit to China by Douglas Alexander, who was trade minister at the time. 3) JIMMY LAI In 2020, the British-Hong Kong businessman and democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai was arrested under national security laws imposed by Beijing and accused of colluding with a foreign state. Lai — who is in his late 70s — has remained in prison ever since. Last month, a Hong Kong court convicted Lai of three offenses following what his supporters decried as a 156-day show trial. He is currently awaiting the final decisions relating to sentencing — with bodies including the EU parliament warning that a life imprisonment could have severe consequences for Europe’s relationship with China if he is not released. Lai’s son last year called for the U.K. government to make his father’s release a precondition of closer relations with Beijing.  4) REPRESSION OF DISSIDENTS China, like Iran, is involved in the active monitoring and intimidation of those it considers dissidents on foreign soil — known as trans-national repression. China and Hong Kong law enforcement agencies have repeatedly issued arrest warrants for nationals living in Britain and other Western countries.  British police in 2022 were forced to investigate an assault on a protester outside the Chinese consulate in Manchester. The man was beaten by several men after being dragged inside the grounds of the diplomatic building during a demonstration against Xi Jinping. China removed six officials from Britain before they could be questioned. 5) CHINESE SPY SCANDALS Westminster was last year rocked by a major Chinese spying scandal involving two British men accused of monitoring British parliamentarians and passing information back to Beijing. Though the case against the two men collapsed, the MI5 intelligence agency still issued an alert to MPs, peers and their staff, warning Chinese intelligence officers were “attempting to recruit people with access to sensitive information about the British state.” It is not the only China spy allegation to embroil the upper echelons of British society. Yang Tengbo, who in 2024 outed himself as an alleged spy banned from entering the U.K., was a business associate of Andrew Windsor , the` disgraced brother of King Charles. Christine Lee, a lawyer who donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to a Labour MP, was the subject of a security alert from British intelligence. In October, Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, said that his officers had “intervened operationally” against China that month. 6) EMBASSY DING DONG This month — after a protracted political and planning battle — the government approved the construction of a Chinese “super-embassy” in London. This came after a litany of security concerns were raised by MPs and in the media, including the building’s proximity to sensitive cables, which it is alleged could be used to aid Chinese spying. Britain has its own embassy headache in China. Attempts to upgrade the U.K. mission in Beijing were reportedly blocked while China’s own London embassy plan was in limbo. 7) SANCTIONS EVASION China has long been accused of helping facilitate sanctions evasion for countries such as Russia and Iran. Opaque customs and trade arrangements have allegedly allowed prohibited shipments of oil and dual-use technology to flow into countries that are sanctioned by Britain and its allies. Britain has already sanctioned some Chinese companies accused of aiding Russia’s war in Ukraine. China has called for Britain to stop making “groundless accusations” about its involvement in Russia’s war efforts. 8) HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES AND GREEN ENERGY U.K. ministers are under pressure from MPs and human rights organizations to get tougher on China over reported human rights abuses in the country’s Xinjiang region — where many of the world’s solar components are sourced. In a meeting with China’s Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang last March, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband raised the issue of forced labor in supply chains, according to a government readout of the meeting. But he also stressed the need for deeper collaboration with China as the U.K.’s lofty clean power goal looms. British academic Laura Murphy — who was researching the risk of forced labor in supply chains — had her work halted by Sheffield Hallam University amid claims of pressure from China. “I know that there are other researchers who don’t feel safe speaking out in public, who are experiencing similar things, although often more subtly,” Murphy said last year. 9) THE FUTURE OF TAIWAN China continues to assert that “Taiwan is a province of China” amid reports it is stepping up preparations for military intervention in the region. In October, the Telegraph newspaper published an op-ed from the Chinese ambassador to Britain, which said: “Taiwan has never been a country. There is but one China, and both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same China.” In a sign of just how sensitive the matter is, Beijing officials reportedly threatened to cancel high-level trade talks between China and the U.K. after Alexander, then a trade minister, travelled to Taipei last June. 10) CHINA POOTLING AROUND THE ARCTIC Britain is pushing for greater European and NATO involvement in the Arctic amid concern that both China and Russia are becoming more active in the strategically important area. There is even more pressure to act, with U.S. President Donald Trump making clear his Greenland aspirations. In October, a Chinese container ship completed a pioneering journey through the Arctic to a U.K. port — halving the usual time it takes to transport electric cars and solar panels destined for Europe.

LONDON — Keir Starmer is off to China to try to lock in some economic wins he can shout about back home. But some of the trickiest trade issues are already being placed firmly in the “too difficult” box. The U.K.’s trade ministry quietly dispatched several delegations to Beijing over the fall to hash out deals with the Chinese commerce ministry and lay the groundwork for the British prime minister’s visit, which gets going in earnest Wednesday. But the visit comes as Britain faces growing pressure from its Western allies to combat Chinese industrial overproduction — and just weeks after Starmer handed his trade chief new powers to move faster in imposing tariffs on cheap, subsidized imports from countries like China. For now, then, the aim is to secure progress in areas that are seen as less sensitive. Starmer’s delegation of CEOs and chairs will split their time between Beijing and Shanghai, with executives representing City giants and high-profile British brands including HSBC, Standard Chartered, Schroders, and the London Stock Exchange Group, alongside AstraZeneca, Jaguar Land Rover, Octopus Energy, and Brompton filling out the cast list. Starmer will be flanked on his visit by Trade Secretary Peter Kyle and City Minister Lucy Rigby. Despite the weighty delegation, ministers insist the approach is deliberately narrow. “We have a very clear-eyed approach when it comes to China,” Security Minister Dan Jarvis said Monday. “Where it is in our national interest to cooperate and work closely with [China], then we will do so. But when it’s our national security interest to safeguard against the threats that [they] pose, we will absolutely do that.” Starmer’s wishlist will be carefully calibrated not to rock the boat. Drumming up Chinese cash for heavy energy infrastructure, including sensitive wind turbine technology, is off the table. Instead, the U.K. has been pushing for lower whisky tariffs, improved market access for services firms, recognition of professional qualifications, banking and insurance licences for British companies operating in China, easier cross-border investment, and visa-free travel for short stays. With China fiercely protective of its domestic market, some of those asks will be easier said than done. Here’s POLITICO’s pro guide to where it could get bumpy. CHAMPIONING THE CITY OF LONDON Britain’s share of China’s services market was a modest 2.7 percent in 2024 — and U.K. firms are itching for more work in the country. British officials have been pushing for recognition of professional qualifications for accountants, designers and architects — which would allow professionals to practice in China without re-licensing locally — and visa-free travel for short stays. Vocational accreditation is a “long-standing issue” in the bilateral relationship, with “little movement” so far on persuading Beijing to recognize U.K. professional credentials as equivalent to its own, according to a senior industry representative familiar with the talks, who, like others in this report, was granted anonymity to speak freely. But while the U.K.’s allies in the European Union and the U.S. have imposed tariffs on Chinese EVs, the U.K. has resisted pressure to do so. | Jessica Lee/EPA Britain is one of the few developed countries still missing from China’s visa-free list, which now includes France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Sweden.  Starmer is hoping to mirror a deal struck by Canadian PM Mark Carney, whose own China visit unlocked visa-free travel for Canadians.  The hope is that easier business travel will reduce friction and make it easier for people to travel and explore opportunities on the ground — it would allow visa-free travel for British citizens, giving them the ability to travel for tourism, attend business conferences, visit friends and family, and participate in short exchange activities.  SMOOTHING FINANCIAL FLOWS The Financial Conduct Authority’s Chair Ashley Alder is also flying out to Beijing, hoping to secure closer alignment between the two countries’ capital markets. He’ll represent Britain’s financial watchdog at the inaugural U.K-China Financial Working Group in Beijing — and bang the drum for better market connectivity between the U.K. and China. Expect emphasis on the cross-border investments mechanism known as the Shanghai-London and Shenzhen-London Stock Connect, plus data sovereignty issues associated with Chinese companies jointly listing on the London Stock Exchange, two figures familiar with the planning said. The Stock Connect opened up both markets to investors in 2019 which, according to FCA Chair Ashley Alder, led to listings worth almost $6 billion. “Technical obstacles have so far prevented us from realizing Stock Connect’s full potential,” Alder said in a speech last year. Alder pointed to a memorandum of understanding being drawn up between the FCA and China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration, which he said is “critical” to allow information to be shared quickly and for firms to be supervised across borders. But that raises its own concerns about Chinese use of data. “The goods wins are easier,” said a senior British business representative briefed on the talks. “Some of the service ones are more difficult.” TAPPING INTO CHINA’S BIOTECH BOOM Pharma executives, including AstraZeneca’s CEO Pascal Soriot, are among those heading to China, as Britain tries to burnish its credentials as a global life sciences hub — and attract foreign direct investment. China, once known mainly for generics — cheaper versions of branded medicine that deliver the same treatment — has rapidly emerged as a pharma powerhouse. According to ING Bank’s global healthcare lead, Stephen Farrelly, the country has “effectively replaced Europe” as a center of innovation. ING data shows China’s share of global innovative drug approvals jumped from just 4 percent in 2014 to 27 percent in 2024. Pharma executives, including AstraZeneca’s CEO Pascal Soriot, are among those heading to China, as Britain tries to burnish its credentials as a global life sciences hub — and attract foreign direct investment. | John G. Mabanglo/EPA Several blockbuster drug patents are set to expire in the coming years, opening the door for cheaper generic competitors. To refill thinning pipelines, drugmakers are increasingly turning to biotech companies. British pharma giant GSK signed a licensing deal with Chinese biotech firm Hengrui Pharma last July. “Because of the increasing relevance of China, the big pharma industry and the U.K. by definition is now looking to China as a source of those new innovative therapies,” Farrelly said. There are already signs of progress. Science Minister Patrick Vallance said late last year that the U.K. and China are ready to work together in “uncontroversial” areas, including health, after talks with his Chinese counterpart. AstraZeneca, the University of Cambridge and Beijing municipal parties have already signed a partnership to share expertise. And earlier this year, the U.K. announced plans to become a “global first choice for clinical trials.” “The U.K. can really help China with the trust gap” when it comes to getting drugs onto the market, said Quin Wills, CEO of Ochre, a biotech company operating in New York, Oxford and Taiwan. “The U.K. could become a global gold stamp for China. We could be like a regulatory bridgehead where [healthcare regulator] MHRA, now separate from the EU since Brexit, can do its own thing and can maybe offer a 150-day streamlined clinical approval process for China as part of a broader agreement.” SLASHING WHISKY TARIFFS  The U.K. has also been pushing for lowered tariffs on whisky alongside wider agri-food market access, according to two of the industry figures familiar with the planning cited earlier. Talks at the end of 2024 between then-Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and his Chinese counterpart ended Covid-era restrictions on exports, reopening pork market access. But in February 2025 China doubled its import tariffs on brandy and whisky, removing its provisional 5 percent tariff and applying the 10 percent most-favored-nation rate. “The whisky and brandy issue became China leverage,” said the senior British business representative briefed on the talks. “I think that they’re probably going to get rid of the tariff.”  It’s not yet clear how China would lower whisky tariffs without breaching World Trade Organization rules, which say it would have to lower its tariffs to all other countries too. INDUSTRIAL TENSIONS The trip comes as the U.K. faces growing international pressure to take a tougher line on Chinese industrial overproduction, particularly of steel and electric cars. But in February 2025 China doubled its import tariffs on brandy and whisky, removing its provisional 5 percent tariff and applying the 10 percent most-favored-nation rate. | Yonhap/EPA But while the U.K.’s allies in the European Union and the U.S. have imposed tariffs on Chinese EVs, the U.K. has resisted pressure to do so. There’s a deal “in the works” between Chinese EV maker and Jaguar Land Rover, said the senior British business representative briefed on the talks quoted higher, where the two are “looking for a big investment announcement. But nothing has been agreed.” The deal would see the Chinese EV maker use JLR’s factory in the U.K. to build cars in Britain, the FT reported last week. “Chinese companies are increasingly focused on localising their operations,” said another business representative familiar with the talks, noting Chinese EV makers are “realising that just flaunting their products overseas won’t be a sustainable long term model.” It’s unlikely Starmer will land a deal on heavy energy infrastructure, including wind turbine technology, that could leave Britain vulnerable to China. The U.K. has still not decided whether to let Ming Yang, a Chinese firm, invest £1.5 billion in a wind farm off the coast of Scotland.

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STRASBOURG — Europe should protect its share of market from global competitors’ investment in green tech, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday. Von der Leyen said European Union leaders will discuss the issue during their Thursday summit. “The clean transition is in full swing,” she said during a debate in the European Parliament, pointing out how every year, hundreds of gigawatts of energy are added globally. “Cleantech markets around the world are booming,” including batteries, wind turbines and electric cars. “The rise in cleantech in Europe is also good news for energy security, and it is a great economic opportunity,” she added. Yet, she warned, Europe in the past missed out on chances to lead on green industry, with the loss of solar panel industry to more competitive Chinese companies being “a cautionary tale that we must not forget.” “Europe was a global leader in solar, but heavily subsidized Chinese competitors started to outprice Europe’s young industry — and today, China controls 90 percent of the global market.” “This time, we should learn our lesson,” she added, name-checking the Middle East and the “Global South” as regions competing for their spot in the global industrial green tech race. The European Commission expects renewables and other forms of clean energy to supply 50 percent of energy globally, while the cleantech market is projected to grow from €600 billion to €2 trillion over the next 10 years. The EU wants to capture 15 percent of the global production of clean technologies, with the EU market growing to €375 billion by 2035, according to Commission projections.

LONDON — Nigel Farage’s Reform Party is being advised by a think tank which denies the science of climate change and claims the U.K. government wants to use electric vehicles to control its citizens. Lois Perry, U.K. and Europe director of the Heartland Institute think tank, told attendees at Reform’s annual conference last week that she was “very grateful to be able to consult and influence the Reform Party at the highest level.” The Heartland Institute confirmed to POLITICO this week that it has “held conversations with policymakers within Reform UK.”   The Institute — which is closely aligned with U.S. President Donald Trump’s anti-climate policies — has cast doubt on global warming and branded climate change policies a “hoax” and a “scam.”  Earlier this year it backed Trump’s decision to pull out of the U.N. Paris Climate Agreement and to roll back Joe Biden-era clean energy projects.  The organization was invited to an event in the White House Rose Garden when Trump announced plans to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement during his first term in office in 2017.  “The reality is this, we’re not facing a climate crisis,” the organization’s President James Taylor told a Heartland-sponsored fringe event at Reform’s party conference in Birmingham Saturday.  Lois Perry told Reform’s chairman Zia Yusuf on a Heartland online show that she had talked the party’s Deputy Leader Richard Tice into ditching net zero policies. | Carl Court/Getty Images He added: “We cannot have a climate crisis predicated on the notion of global warming when temperatures remain unusually cold.”  The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is unequivocal that human-induced climate change is “already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe.”  The organization launched its U.K. and EU arm in December, at a London event attended by Farage as well as former Prime Minister Liz Truss.  A spokesperson for Reform UK did not deny that the party had been in discussions with Heartland. “Reform UK meets with organisations from across the political spectrum with the view of developing a wide-ranging policy platform,” they said.  ‘HAVE A LOOK AROUND YOU’  Speaking at the same conference fringe event, Perry — a former leader of UKIP — said: “There’s nothing wrong with CO2. CO2 is not a pollutant.”   She said that government net zero policies are “bad for the environment” and had been introduced “to control us. It’s to tax us. It’s to take our money and it’s to take our liberty.”  Perry added: “They want us in electric cars. Electric cars can be remotely controlled. Again, not a conspiracy theory. These cars can be shut down.   “Imagine during Covid. Imagine your car is disabled remotely. You have no control over it, because it’s an electric car. And that’s if you can afford an electric car. There’s a reason why this neo-Marxist, communist, shambolic government wants us in electric cars. It is so that we have no freedom whatsoever.”  One person linked to the Reform-friendly Centre for a Better Britain think tank said it had not yet met Heartland but would be happy to do so.  Earlier this month, Perry told Reform’s chairman Zia Yusuf on a Heartland online show that she had talked the party’s Deputy Leader Richard Tice into ditching net zero policies. “In that case, hats off and credit to you too,” Yusuf replied.  Reform has pledged to scrap the U.K.’s net zero target, promising this will bring down sky-high household energy bills. Reform UK seeks to professionalize and present itself as a party ready for government. | Leon Neal/Getty Images This February, Farage also told an event it was “absolutely nuts” to claim CO2 was a pollutant. In 2024 he said he didn’t want to get into “any debate on the science.” Tice has expressed views at odds with climate science. He owns a Tesla electric car, which he describes as an “amazing piece of kit.”  It comes as Reform UK — consistently topping the national polls — seeks to professionalize and present itself as a party ready for government. “I promised you a year ago, I would professionalize the party. Have a look around you,” Farage told conference attendees in his speech Friday.   Pollsters warned there were electoral risks for Reform in engaging with climate denial groups, at a time when voters are wary of all politicians’ aims with regard to net zero. “The primary focus for all voters is energy costs,” said Julian Gallie, head of research at Merlin Strategy. “However, pursuing an anti net zero agenda motivated explicitly by climate skepticism can be as deep a turn off as those who are pursuing a net zero target regardless of price costs.” Additional reporting by Dan Bloom.

MUNICH — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz opened the IAA auto show in Munich on Tuesday with a critique of the European Commission’s 2035 combustion engine ban. “We need more flexibility in regulation,” he said. “Unilateral political commitments to specific technologies are fundamentally the wrong economic policy approach.” The comments are a thinly veiled reference to the EU’s legislation, which forbids the sale of any new cars that emit CO2 from 2035, essentially banning the combustion engine — an unpopular move in Germany, home to some of the world’s biggest and most well-known car manufacturers. The CEOs of some of these companies — BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen — sat in the front row, emphatically nodding and clapping at Merz’s remarks. The issue is a crucial one for Berlin. Cars account for about 5 percent of Germany’s GDP but the industry is facing a triple whammy: a steep decline in sales in China that had been crucial to the bottom lines of German carmakers; a stumbling transition to electric vehicles that is leaving an opening for Chinese companies to make an entry into the European market; and chaos caused by Donald Trump’s car tariffs. With the far-right Alternative for Germany neck-and-neck with the Christian Democrats in opinion polls, Merz is struggling to ensure a future for an industry that Germany has dominated for over a century, thanks to its engineering prowess. It’s a sector that also employs some 800,000 people in the country. The argument is that flexibility on the EU’s targets would allow some of the traditional car industry to survive for just that little bit longer. Days prior, the three German carmakers presented their latest models with a strong focus on electric vehicles as they look to compete with their Chinese peers that have so far had the upper hand with their tech-glitzed EVs. BMW’s new all-electric iX3 SUV has 800 kilometers of range, making range anxiety “a thing of the past,” CEO Oliver Zipse told POLITICO in an interview. Zipse and his fellow European executives are set to meet with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday for the next strategic dialogue for the sector, where they are expected to lobby for significant changes to the 2035 legislation. They have political allies in making the plea. Italian business minister Adolfo Urso is eager for the 2035 legislation to be overturned. The conservative European People’s Party in the European Parliament included reversing the ban in last year’s election platform. Merz has taken a softer stance as a result of the coalition between his conservative Christian Democrats, which want the ban reversed, and the center-left Social Democrats, which argue the legislation needs to remain in place as part of a broader effort to tackle climate change. But Merz had help in his plea from the other speakers on Tuesday, leaving no room for a different interpretation of his meaning. “This ban is wrong. We need to remove it,” Markus Söder, the conservative premier of Bavaria, said ahead of the chancellor. “The CO2 goals of 2035 need to be adjusted to reality.” Hildegard Müller, the head of Germany’s car lobby VDA, pushed for the group’s 10-point plan, which argues the 2035 legislation should change its target from 100 percent zero-emission vehicles to 90 percent and allow for other powertrains like hybrids and range extenders and make space for alternative fuels, the industry argues, also meet climate goals. Those options would give an additional lease on life to the combustion engine.

CHIATURA, Georgia — Giorgi Neparidze, a middle-aged man from near the town of Chiatura in western Georgia, still has marks on his lips from where he sewed his mouth shut during a hunger strike last year. He says Georgian Manganese, a mining company with close links to the government, has wrought environmental devastation around his home and has ignored the rights of its workers. He is seeking compensation.  Europe, which imports Georgia’s manganese, is partly to blame for the black rivers and collapsing houses in Chiatura district, Neparidze says. The former miner-turned-environmental and civil rights activist claims that in one village, Shukruti, toxic dust from the pits is making people unwell. Filthy black water, laced with heavy metals, periodically spurts out of pumps there. Houses are collapsing as the tunnels underneath them cave in.  Manganese, a black metal traditionally used to reinforce steel, is crucial for Europe’s green energy transition as it is used in both wind turbines and electric car batteries. The metal is also vital for military gear like armor and guns. In 2022, the European Union bought 20,000 metric tons of manganese alloys from Georgia — almost 3 percent of its total supply. A year later the bloc added manganese to its list of critical minerals. But Chiaturans say their lives are being ruined so that Western Europeans can breathe cleaner air. “We are sacrificed so that others can have better lives,” Neparidze says. “There are only 40,000 people in Chiatura. They might feel ill or live in bad conditions but they are sacrificed so that millions of Europeans can have a cleaner environment.” Neparidze says cancer rates in the region are unusually high. Doctors at a hospital in Chiatura back up the observation, but no official study has linked the illnesses to the mines. An aerial view of Chiatura with the polluted Kvirila River running through the town | Olivia Acland Hope that things will improve appears dim. European companies often don’t know where their manganese is sourced from. As ANEV, Italy’s wind energy association, confirms: “There is no specific obligation to trace all metals used in steel production.”  Last year the EU enacted a law that was meant to change that. The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive obliges companies to run closer checks on their supply chains and clamp down on any human rights violations, poor working conditions and environmental damage.  But barely a year after it took effect, the European Commission proposed a major weakening of the law in a move to reduce red tape for the bloc’s sluggish industry. EU member countries, motivated by this deregulation agenda, are now pushing for even deeper cuts, while French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz want to get rid of the law altogether.  Meanwhile, Europe’s appetite for mined raw materials like manganese, lithium, rare earths, copper and nickel is expected to skyrocket to meet the needs of the clean energy transition and rearmament. Many of these resources are in poorly regulated and often politically repressive jurisdictions, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Indonesia and Georgia. Weakening the EU supply chain law will have consequences for communities like Neparidze’s. “Only an empty shell of the directive remains,” says Anna Cavazzini, a member of the European Parliament’s Green Party, adding that the legislature caved to pressure from businesses seeking to reduce their costs. “Now is not the time to abandon the defense of human rights and give corporations a free hand,” she says.  A resident of Chiatura standing on a collapsed house following a mining-related landslide in Itkhvisi village. | Olivia Acland As Georgia’s government pivots toward Russia and stifles dissent, life is becoming increasingly dangerous for activists in Chiatura. On April 29, four activists including Neparidze were arrested for allegedly assaulting a mine executive. A statement put out by Chiatura Management Company, the firm in charge of staffing Georgian Manganese’s underground operations, says that Tengiz Koberidze, manager of the Shukruti mine, was “verbally abused and pelted with stones.” Supporters call it a staged provocation in which Koberidze tried to incite violence, and say it’s part of a broader campaign to silence resistance. If convicted they face up to six years behind bars. Koberidze did not respond to requests for comment. Chiatura residents are protesting over two overlapping issues. On one side, miners are demanding safer working conditions underground, where tunnel collapses have long been a risk, along with higher wages and paid sick leave. When the mine was temporarily shut in October 2024, they were promised 60 percent of their salaries, but many say those payments never materialized. Workers are also raising concerns about mining pollution in the region. “The company doesn’t raise wages, doesn’t improve safety, and continues to destroy the natural environment. Its profits come not just from extracting resources, but from exploiting both workers and the land,” says one miner, David Chinchaladze. Georgian Manganese did not respond to interview requests or written questions. Officials at Georgia’s Ministry of Mines and the government’s Environment Protection and Natural Resources Department did not respond to requests for comment. A collapsing building in Shukruti. | Olivia Acland.  The second group of protesters comes from the village of Shukruti, which sits directly above the mining tunnels. Their homes are cracking and sinking into the ground. In 2020, Georgian Manganese pledged to pay between 700,000 and 1 million Georgian lari ($252,000 to $360,000) annually in damages — a sum that was meant to be distributed among residents. But while the company insists the money has been paid, locals — backed by watchdog NGO Social Justice — say otherwise. According to them, fewer than 5 percent of Shukruti’s residents have received any compensation.  Their protest has intensified in the last year, with workers now blocking the roads and Shukruti residents barring entry to the mines. But the risks are intensifying too. Since suspending EU accession talks last year amid deteriorating relations with the bloc, Georgia’s ruling party has shuttered independent media, arrested protestors and amplified propaganda. The country’s democracy is “backsliding,” says Irakli Kavtaradze, head of the foreign department of the largest opposition political party, United National Movement. Their tactics “sound like they come from a playbook that is written in the Kremlin,” he adds. ‘KREMLIN PLAYBOOK’ In the capital Tbilisi, around 200 kilometers east of Chiatura, protesters have taken to the streets every night since April 2, 2024 when the government unveiled a Kremlin-style “foreign agents” law aimed at muzzling civil society.  Many demonstrators wear sunglasses, scarfs and masks to shield their identities from street cameras, wary of state retaliation.  A scene from the 336th day of protests in Tbilisi in April 2025. | Olivia Acland. Their protests swelled in October last year after the government announced it would suspend talks to join the EU. For Georgians, the stakes are high: Russia already occupies 20 percent of the country after its 2008 invasion, and people fear that a more profound drift from the EU could open the door to further aggression. When POLITICO visited in April, a crowd strode down Rustaveli Avenue, the city’s main artery. Some carried EU flags while others passed around a loudspeaker, taking it in turns to voice defiant chants. “Fire to the oligarchy!” one young woman yelled, the crowd echoing her call. “Power lies in unity with the EU!” another shouted. They also called out support for protestors in Chiatura, whose fight has become something of a cause célèbre across the country: “Solidarity to Chiatura! Natural resources belong to the people!”  The fight in Chiatura is a microcosm of the country’s broader struggle: The activists are not just taking on a mining company but a corporate giant backed by oligarchs and the ruling elites.  Georgian Manganese’s parent company, Georgian American Alloys, is registered in Luxembourg and counts Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky as a shareholder. He is in custody in Kyiv over allegations that he hired a gang to kill a lawyer who threatened his business interests in 2003. Kolomoisky has also been sanctioned by the United States for his alleged involvement in siphoning billions out of PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest bank.  Giorgi Kapanadze — a businessman closely connected with the ruling Georgian Dream party of Bidzina Ivanishvili — is listed as general manager of Georgian American Alloys.  Until recently, Kapanadze owned Rustavi TV, a channel notorious for airing pro-government propaganda. The European Parliament has called on the EU to hit Kapanadze with sanctions, accusing him of propping up the country’s repressive regime. Kolomoisky and Kapanadze did not respond to POLITICO’s requests for comment. The government swooped in to help Georgian Manganese in 2016 when a Georgian court fined it $82 million for environmental destruction in the region. The state placed it under “special management” and wrote off the fine. A new government-appointed manager was tasked, on paper, with cleaning up the mess. He was supposed to oversee a cleanup of the rivers that flow past the mines, among other promises. Manganese mining pit in Chiatura region, Georgia. | Olivia Acland But POLITICO’s own tests based on four samples taken in April 2025 from the Kvirila River, which runs through Chiatura, as well as its tributary, the Bogiristiskali, which were examined in a U.K. licensed laboratory, show the manganese levels in both rivers are over 10 times the legal limit. Iron levels are also higher than legally permitted. Locals use the polluted water to irrigate their crops. Fishermen are also pulling in increasingly empty nets as the heavy metals kill off aquatic life, according to local testimonies. The water from the Kvirila River flows out into the Black Sea, home to endangered dolphins, sturgeons, turtles and sharks.  A 2022 analysis by the Georgian NGO Green Policy found even worse results, with manganese in the Kvirila River averaging 42 times the legal limit. The group also detected excessive levels of iron and lead. Chronic manganese exposure can lead to irreversible neurological damage — a Parkinson’s-like condition known as manganism — as well as liver, kidney and reproductive harm. Lead and iron are linked to organ failure, cancer and cardiovascular disease. On Georgian Manganese’s website, the company concedes that “pollution of the Kvirila River” is one of the region’s “ecological challenges,” attributing it to runoff from manganese processing. It claims to have installed German-standard purification filters and claims that “neither polluted nor purified water” currently enters the river. Protesters like Neparidze aren’t convinced. They claim the filtration system is turned on only when inspectors arrive and that for the rest of the time, untreated wastewater is dumped straight into the rivers. BLOCKING EXPORTS Their protests having reaped few results, Chiaturans are taking increasingly extreme measures to make their voices heard.  Gocha Kupatadze, a retired 67-year-old miner, spends his nights in a tarpaulin shelter beside an underground mine, where he complains that rats crawl over him. “This black gold became the black plague for us,” he says. “We have no choice but to protest.” Kupatadze’s job is to ensure that manganese does not leave the mine. Alongside other protesters he has padlocked the gate to the generator that powers the mine’s ventilation system, making it impossible for anyone to work there. Kupatadze says he is only resorting to such drastic measures because conditions in his village, Shukruti, have become unlivable. His family home, built in 1958, is now crumbling, with cracks in the walls as the ground beneath it collapses from years of mining. The vines that once sustained his family’s wine-making traditions have long since withered and died. Gocha Kupatadze, an activist sleeping in a tarpaulin tent outside a mine. | Olivia Acland. For over a year, protesters across the region have intermittently blocked mine entrances as well as main roads, determined to stop the valuable ore from leaving Chiatura. In some ways it has worked: Seven months ago, Chiatura Management Company, the firm in charge of staffing Georgian Manganese’s underground operations, announced it would pause production.  “Due to the financial crisis that arose from the radical protests by the people of Shukruti village, the production process in Chiatura has been completely halted,” it read. Yet to the people of Chiatura, this feels more like a punishment than a triumph.  Manganese has been extracted from the area since 1879 and many residents rely on the mines for their livelihoods. The region bears all the hallmarks of a mining town that thrived during the Soviet Union when conditions in the mines were much better, according to residents. Today, rusted cable cars sway above concrete buildings that house washing stations and aging machinery.   While locals had sought compensation for the damage to their homes, they now just find themselves out of work.  Soviet-era buildings and mining infrastructure around Chiatura. | Olivia Acland.  Making matters worse, Georgian Manganese, licensed to mine 16,430 hectares until 2046, is now sourcing much of its ore from open pits instead of underground mines. These are more dangerous to the communities around them: Machines rip open the hillsides to expose shallow craters, while families living next to the pits say toxic dust drifts off them into their gardens and houses.  MORE PITS The village of Zodi is perched on a plateau surrounded by gently undulating hills, 10 kilometers from Chiatura. Many of its residents rely on farming, and cows roam across its open fields. “It is a beautiful village with a unique microclimate which is great for wine-making,” says Kote Abdushelishvili, a 36-year-old filmmaker from Zodi.  Mining officials say the village sits on manganese reserves. In 2023, caterpillar trucks rolled into Zodi and began ripping up the earth. Villagers, including Abdushelishvili, chased them out. “We stopped them,” he says, “We said if you want to go on, you will have to kill us first.” A padlocked gate to the mine’s ventilation system. | Olivia Acland Abdushelishvili later went to Georgian Manganese’s Chiatura office to demand a meeting with the state-appointed special manager. When he was turned away, he shouted up to the window: “You can attack us, you can kill us, we will not stop.” Two days later, as Abdushelishvili strolled through a quiet neighborhood in Tbilisi, masked men jumped out of a car, slammed him to the pavement and beat him up. Despite the fierce resistance in Chiatura, Georgian Manganese continues to send its metal to European markets. In the first two months of 2025, the EU imported 6,000 metric tons of manganese from Georgia. With the bloc facing mounting pressures — from the climate crisis to new defense demands — its hunger for manganese is set to grow. As the EU weakens its corporate accountability demands and Georgia drifts further into authoritarianism, the voices of Chiatura’s people are growing even fainter.  “We are not asking for something unreasonable,” says activist Tengiz Gvelesiani, who was recently detained in Chiatura along with Neparidze, “We are asking for healthy lives, a good working environment and fresh air.” Georgian Manganese did not respond to requests for comment. This article was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.

Elisabeth Braw is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, the author of the award-winning “Goodbye Globalization” and a regular columnist for POLITICO. If there’s one thing we know, it’s that our transition away from fossil fuels won’t be possible without electric cars (EVs). Pulling ahead in this field, China has recently been making EVs that are far cheaper than Western-manufactured ones, and much of it comes down to one humble yet indispensable component: the battery. But now, thanks to one small town in Norway, it seems there might yet be hope for Europe, and for a greener future without risky dependencies on China. Oh, how the times have changed. Four years ago, Tesla was the world’s largest all-electric car brand, followed by China’s state-owned SAIC, Volkswagen, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi and BYD ( another Chinese manufacturer). Today, five of the world’s 10 biggest EV brands are Chinese — and it’s not because buyers specifically want Chinese cars. It’s simply because they’re cheaper. Take, for example, BYD’s Dolphin Surf. Available in Europe as of this summer, these cars start at €22,900. That’s significantly less than Tesla models — and a couple other Chinese EVs are cheaper still. One reason for all this is that their batteries — that all-important part of an EV — cost less. For the past few years, Chinese makers have been switching to so-called LFP batteries, which are different from the NMC batteries most Western cars still use. LFP stands for lithium iron phosphate, and batteries made with these components aren’t just cheaper but last longer, thus making them more sustainable too. (NMCs still get more usage out of each charge, which makes them better for longer drives, but that gap is narrowing.) Given their focus on price, it’s not surprising Chinese brands have so massively adopted LFP batteries. “[China has] a huge cost advantage through economies of scale and battery technology. European manufacturers have fallen well behind,” David Bailey, a professor of business and economics at Birmingham Business School told the BBC. “Unless they wake up very quickly and catch up, they could be wiped out.” But there’s good news for Western EV makers: a renewable-energy company called Å Energi — a Norwegian hydropower giant — has been thinking ahead precisely along these lines. Four years ago, Å Energi teamed up with ABB, Siemens, the Danish pension fund PKA and the Norwegian investment firm Nysnø to form Morrow Batteries. Majority-owned by Å Energi, Morrow is based in the picturesque town of Arendal on Norway’s south coast, and it recently began producing LFP batteries for energy storage systems — think sun and wind energy that needs to be stored after being captured in solar panels and wind turbines — as well as for defense equipment. If all goes according to plan, Morrow will then expand to vehicles, with plans to build another three LFP facilities in Arendal before 2029. Of course, this company won’t be able to match China’s formidable LFP production on its own  — and yet, it exists. It exists because Å Energi dared to commit to this new technology, because the Norwegian government agreed to grant a loan, and because the EU decided to support the undertaking too. Four years ago, Tesla was the world’s largest all-electric car brand, followed by China’s state-owned SAIC. | Allison Dinner/EPA To date, the path to EV batteries has been strewn with grand ambition and, alas, bankruptcies. In the past couple years alone, Northvolt in Sweden and Britishvolt in the U.K. have both gone bust. But as technical as it may sound, LFP batteries are the surest way for Europe to reduce its dependence on Chinese EVs. So, if Morrow succeeds, and is perhaps joined by one or two new European battery-makers, Europe’s EV manufacturers will be better able to compete with Chinese rivals. To be viable, the green transition has to be a collective undertaking. It’s no surprise that this pioneering LFP factory is located in Norway, as the country has made EV adoption a priority. In 2023, nine in 10 cars sold in the country were already EVs, and the Norwegian government wants all newly sold cars to be zero-emission by the end of this year. Norway doesn’t have any significant car manufacturers, and unlike most battery-makers, Morrow isn’t owned by a car manufacturer. But LFP batteries look certain to be the future in all kinds of applications — and Norway is grabbing that opportunity. Morrow’s factory, or factories, may lose money at first, but in the long run, they’ll be a benefit to their owners and to Norway — not to mention Western consumers. Even more crucially, the arrival of a battery factory in Arendal points to a fundamental reality: that to do the right thing for our supply chains and, in many cases, the climate, companies need to team up with unexpected partners, and occasionally with the government too. In today’s climate, so to speak, business plans can no longer solely focus on immediate profit.

Saying Elon Musk was “essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK,” President Donald Trump on Sunday expressed disappointment that his formerly loyal supporter has decided to form a political party. “I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks. He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday. Frustrated with Republicans for passing the megabill last week, Musk on Saturday announced the launch of the America Party, saying his own research indicated it would be eagerly supported by Americans. “By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it! When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Musk wrote. “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.” Trump clearly didn’t agree with Musk on the need for another political party. “The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post, “and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats, who have lost their confidence and their minds! Republicans, on the other hand, are a smooth running ‘machine,’ that just passed the biggest Bill of its kind in the History of our Country.” Speaking later to reporters at an airport in New Jersey, Trump reiterated his theory that third parties just don’t work in the American system. “He can have fun with it, but I think it’s ridiculous,” Trump said. Trump spent the lion’s share of his Truth Social message attributing Musk’s change of heart toward him to his own financial interests. “It is a Great Bill but, unfortunately for Elon, it eliminates the ridiculous Electric Vehicle (EV) Mandate, which would have forced everyone to buy an Electric Car in a short period of time. I have been strongly opposed to that from the very beginning,” Trump said. Trump, in June, had offered a similar complaint about Musk: “Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” Musk, who was brought in to the Trump administration early on to improve the functioning of the federal government, has been arguing that the megabill, which Trump signed Friday, is a disaster. “The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country! Utterly insane and destructive,” he wrote June 28 on X. “It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.” Two days later, he threatened to create his own party. “Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE,” he said.

The question isn’t whether globalization will continue, but who will lead it and on what terms, says BMW’s Frank Niederländer. With geopolitical tensions and uncertainty in the world market on the rise, the EU has an opportunity to shape the global trade agenda — if it gets out of its own way. “Europe had the ambition to lead with the Green Deal, setting the pace for the global economy,” says Niederländer, BMW Group Vice President, Government Affairs Europe. “But while we focused on regulation, others moved ahead prioritizing speed, investment and outcomes.” > We need to envision growth as an imperative again. > > Frank Niederländer, BMW Group vice president, government affairs Europe Europe’s auto industry has a sterling reputation globally for manufacturing high-quality vehicles, and the EU has a goal of zero emissions for all cars by 2035. But China’s drive for innovation has helped it lead the world market for electric cars. Only one of the world’s top 15 battery electric vehicles is made in the EU. “The share of EVs sold still depends heavily on national regulatory conditions. This fragmentation in the single market remains one of the greatest challenges to the uptake of electric vehicles. Political alignment, investment scale and the ability to react with speed is essential,” says Niederländer. POLITICO Studio sat down with Niederländer to discuss what shifts need to happen to create a climate-neutral, competitive Europe. POLITICO Studio: What is BMW’s outlook on international trade in this era of geopolitical tension? Frank Niederländer: The global trading system is shifting — and it has real consequences. It shapes investment flows, supply chains and the rules of competition in real time. Other regions are acting with intent ― investing heavily to secure their industrial bases through billions in subsidies, raw material lockdowns and strategic alliances that give them an edge. Access to energy, technology and key inputs is now, very openly, used as leverage. The risk for Europe isn’t deglobalization, it’s marginalization. It’s falling behind while others move with more speed and focus. Europe must remain open with a trade policy that reinforces our competitiveness, secures our supply chains and reflects our values, while recognizing and managing strategic dependencies. PS: Amid the United States’ increasingly isolationist trade policies, is there a new opportunity for Europe? FN: There could be, if the EU stops playing defense and starts thinking strategically about where it wants to lead. Europe has a chance to position itself as a stable, credible anchor for open and fair trade. For that, we need cohesion within the EU, and alignment of environmental, economic and trade policy. More free trade agreements with core partners (such as Mercosur) are essential today after a long period of insufficient EU engagement. Europe has what it takes to lead: a strong Single Market, technological leadership and a solid rule-of-law tradition. What’s missing is the will to shape the global trading system, not just manage its consequences. We should focus on areas where the need for collaboration is highest, such as climate-neutral industry, resilient supply chains and high-value innovation. The EU must be capable of swiftly recalibrating its priorities to keep pace with the evolving geopolitical environment, or it may find itself sidelined. We need to envisage growth as an imperative again. PS: What emerging technologies could define Europe’s competitive edge? How is BMW helping to accelerate them? FN: Europe’s edge will be defined by the convergence of climate ambition and industrial competitiveness. The winning technologies will be those that deliver both. At BMW, this is already shaping how we build, invest and compete globally. We have long embedded circularity into the core of our strategy ― in the design phase, material sourcing and end-of-life recycling. We are also investing heavily in battery cell innovation and scaling European production capacity while continuing to advance a broad range of powertrain technologies ― from electric drivetrains to highly efficient combustion engines running on renewable fuels. In fact, all diesel BMW vehicles produced in Germany are now delivered with HVO100, a renewable fuel that reduces life cycle CO2 emissions by up to 90 percent. Europe has the talent and industrial base to lead. The challenge now is to translate that potential into scale — with policy that recognizes and accelerates technological leadership. We need agile policy frameworks, public-private partnerships and an ecosystem that fosters innovation, rather than policies that dictate technologies. > Europe has the talent and industrial base to lead. The challenge now is to > translate that potential into scale — with policy that recognizes and > accelerates technological leadership. PS: How can Europe turn decarbonization into a long-term competitive advantage? What role does BMW play in that transformation? FN: Decarbonization can give Europe an economic edge if we scale up cost-effective, low-carbon technologies. While Europe led with ever tighter regulation, other regions ― notably the U.S. and China ― have advanced by mobilizing massive investments, securing critical resources and rapidly scaling technologies. Still, Europe has what it takes to lead this transition through choice and innovation, not restrictions.  Take the supply chain. The largest levers for reducing CO2 emissions lie upstream from manufacturers. We prioritize renewable electricity, secondary materials and low-carbon production processes, and we actively invest in and source from suppliers that meet those standards. That creates real momentum on the demand side to accelerate the transition. This approach plays to Europe’s industrial strengths: advanced engineering capabilities, integrated supply chains and the ability to deliver premium solutions across multiple technologies. Let companies compete to deliver the best climate solutions — that’s how we’ll maintain global leadership. PS: How does life cycle assessment (LCA) affect BMW’s strategies? FN: At BMW, our strategic focus is clear ― achieving business success while reducing our climate footprint. To do that, we must look at the full life cycle of our products ― from raw material extraction to manufacturing, use and end-of-life recycling. This is essential if we want climate policy to reflect real impact. Tailpipe emissions cannot be the only measure of a vehicle’s environmental impact. We need to assess CO2 emissions across the entire value chain. This means designing with carbon footprint in mind from the start, and we’re already applying this approach with the Neue Klasse, a new, fully electric BMW model generation, where we are embedding circularity and carbon reduction every stage of development. The EU’s move toward LCA is welcome — but it needs consistency, transparency and practical application across sectors. Done right, LCA will reward innovation where it matters most: in cutting total emissions. PS: How is BMW future-proofing its global supply chain? FN: Europe’s future competitiveness will hinge on whether we treat supply chains as a strategic asset, not a logistical challenge. That’s especially true in areas such as the battery value chain, where industrial success depends on both resilience and global cooperation. This will require massive investments — just look at the figures in the Draghi report. This isn’t about reducing complexity. It’s about managing it. Engagement with partners such as China must be realistic and rules-based, because decoupling is neither feasible nor desirable. Europe cannot operate as an island. At BMW, our global production footprint is built upon a strong European foundation. We localize to serve markets more efficiently and to strengthen resilience, and our international presence amplifies Europe’s role as a hub for innovation, engineering excellence and high-value manufacturing. > Climate neutrality must be engineered — deliberately, collaboratively, and at > scale. PS: What can the EU do to ensure that companies like BMW remain globally competitive while leading the green transition? FN: Europe has the chance to define climate neutrality in a way that keeps Europe competitive and keeps jobs here. Stronger cooperation between governments and industry is key. The Strategic Dialogue launched by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was an important step to this and must continue. The future will be shaped by many choices — smart regulation, strong industrial alliances and a shared commitment to progress that is measurable, not ideological. PS: What future does BMW imagine for a climate-neutral world? FN: A climate-neutral Europe is not just a moral responsibility — it’s a competitive imperative. It means rethinking how we power industries, design products and create value chains. The future will be built not on a single breakthrough but by thousands of decisions across technology, regulation and investment. Climate neutrality must be engineered — deliberately, collaboratively and at scale.   At BMW Group, we are engineering that future with purpose. Our 2030 climate targets are fully aligned with the Paris Agreement, which means reducing our CO2 emissions by 40 million tons by 2030 as compared to 2019. Europe has the potential to lead this transformation. But leadership requires the courage to move beyond outdated regulations, respond decisively to shifting geopolitical realities and streamline the path forward. This is the moment to lead with conviction.